Recently, I read about a local
barber who said he was influenced to begin his business by a quote he read from
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., the Boston-based physician, professor, lecturer,
poet and author who lived most of the 1800s (1809-94).
Curious about what a 19th
Century figure wrote to influence a 21st Century barber, I explored
a bit more about Holmes and found a remarkable man who had a remarkable way
with words that often served to inspire many … in many different fields. While writing wasn't his primary livelihood –
he was a physician after all – writers like Emerson, Thoreau and Longfellow
hung out with him and acclaimed him as one of the best writers of their day.
He made many “re-quotable” statements,
a key one being the effect books had on him.
“Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books,” Holmes
said. “The best of a book is not the
thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm
of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.”
On our recent trek across the
country we took along one of Tess Gerritsen’s books on tape – The Bone Garden – featuring Holmes as a
young medical student helping the protagonist solve a series of gruesome
murders in the Boston area. Having just
“heard” that story combined with the story about the barber citing Holmes as
his inspiration was reason enough for me to write about him today.
Oh, and that Holmes’ quote that inspired
our local barber: “Many people die with
their music still in them. Too often it is because they are ALWAYS getting
ready to live. And, before they know it
time runs out.”
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